Printer redirection is a technique that works to route printing jobs from a terminal server to printers attached to local computers (typically called “client computers”). Printer redirection may typically be performed when the local printer uses a matching printer driver that is installed on the terminal server. When a user logs on to a session on the terminal server, one or more of the local printers attached to the client computers is accessed and a local queue is created on the terminal server. The user may thus print documents locally even though an application creating the document (such as a spreadsheet or word processor) is hosted remotely on the terminal server.
Current printer redirection techniques generally require that an exact matching driver for the printer be installed on both the terminal server and client side. This requirement may pose several major problems. For example, administrators must ensure that a variety of different printer drivers are installed on the terminal server which can be time consuming and complex. In some cases where the terminal server and client computer use different versions of an operating system, a matching printer driver for the client operating system may not be installable on the terminal server. Or, the printer manufacturer may not have developed a printer driver for both operating system versions.
While a generic printer driver may be installed on the terminal server side to avoid some of the problems with installing matching drivers, such generic drivers are not typically capable of exposing a complete printing and document preferences interface associated with a particular client printer to the user during printer redirection. Such printing preferences include, for example, preferences associated with page layout and orientation, paper size, single page or duplex printing, scaling, and physical print characteristics (e.g., paper tray selection, image quality, resolution, color, etc.). Thus, an inability to access a user interface for native printer preferences may present a shortcoming that can degrade the user's experience during a terminal server session.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follows. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.